Book Review: "Georgie, All Along" by Kate Clayborn

This is a heartfelt, poignant, and charming story about overcoming your past and finding yourself.

Georgie couldn't leave her small Virginia hometown fast enough. She got a waitressing job in Richmond, which led to an opportunity to become a personal assistant to a filmmaker, and the next thing she knew, she moved to Los Angeles. There, she worked nonstop as the PA to a famous screenwriter and director. It was crazy, unpredictable work, but she loved it and felt she had purpose and control.

But when her boss decides to retire, Georgie finds herself jobless and homeless. She moves back home to plan for her future and help her pregnant best friend Bel out, who also moved back home recently.

And then Georgie remembers that there’s no escaping your reputation in a small town. Everyone still thinks of her as a flake, a spontaneous prankster who never was serious about everything. As she tries to figure out what she wants to do with her life, she finds a notebook that she and Bel wrote when they were in 8th grade. This “friendfic” was full of all the things they were going to do to conquer high school.

Is it too late to live your 8th grade dreams? With the help of Levi, who knows all too well how hard it is to outrun your reputation, she’ll try to recapture that youthful enthusiasm. Yet as she tries to figure out what’s next, it may be what has been missing is right near her.

I’ve been a fan of Kate Clayborn for a while and I love the heart, charm, and romance she brings to her books. This is really good!

Book Review: "The Perfect Guests" by Emma Rous

Raven Hall has seen tragedy and its share of secrets and lies through the years. What are the mysteries it holds? This question is at the crux of Emma Rous' latest book, The Perfect Guests.

In 1988, Beth, an orphaned teenager, is invited to live with a family at Raven Hall, a sprawling English estate. For a girl who has longed for a family this is an opportunity she doesn’t want to squander, and she quickly becomes friends with their teenage daughter, Nina.

The family has secrets and quirks, however, but Beth keeps her trepidations to herself for fear of angering the family and being sent back to the children's home. But when she’s asked to participate in a lie of sorts, it sets off a chain of events which changes everything.

Thirty years later, Sadie, an unemployed actress, is offered a plum assignment. She is to play a guest at a murder-mystery party weekend held at Raven Hall, an old manor house which has been empty for years. This role has the potential to become a permanent job, and when she is sent a suitcase full of posh clothing and a dossier on her character, she’s excited for the possibilities.

But when she arrives, she quickly realizes things aren’t quite as she was promised. Is everyone playing a part? What is happening to the other guests? Why can’t she focus on what’s going on?

I was hooked on this slow-burn, dual-timeline mystery from the get-go. I loved the ominous feel of the whole thing, and while I had some suspicions about what might happen, I was really interested in how things would unfold.

I love twisty mysteries and I love being surprised. However, I felt like the conclusion of the book just kept throwing twist after twist at me—every time I thought I had grasped the plot, some other secret was revealed. (I refer to this as "But wait, there's more" syndrome.)

Still, The Perfect Guests was a very interesting read and I do like the way Rous writes. I also enjoyed her last book, The Au Pair, which had a similar narrative structure.

Book Review: "Calypso" by David Sedaris

For me, reading David Sedaris' books is like hanging out with that slightly strange friend—you may think you're crazy, but at least there's someone crazier than you out there!

I've been reading Sedaris' books on and off for a number of years, since his first collection, Barrel Fever, in 1994. In addition to helping bolster my self-esteem, he's always good for a fair amount of chuckling, giggling, and all-out belly laughing, not to mention his unique ability to highlight some of life's frustrating, mystifying, and joy-inducing foibles. Plus, every now and again he simply makes me gasp at his observations.

Calypso, his newest collection, certainly is chock-full of laughs, and there's a good supply of slightly gross observations about bodily functions and other physical issues. But I wasn't prepared for how emotionally rich this collection would be—on a number of occasions I found myself getting a little choked up as Sedaris pondered growing older, the aging and death of family members, the legalization of same-sex marriage and what it meant for his relationship with his boyfriend, even the mood of the country following the 2016 presidential election.

It's funny—in one story Sedaris talks about his mother-in-law, and how she "likes to interrupt either to accuse you of exaggerating—'Oh, now, that's not true'—or to defend the person you're talking about, someone, most often, she has never met." Some of his observations are so outlandish that I'll admit occasionally thinking like his mother-in-law, saying to myself, "That can't be true." Regardless of whether it is or not, Sedaris had me latching on to his every word.

I'm not a Puritan by any means, but I'll admit there were a few stories that were a little heavy on bodily functions and feeding things to animals (read the book and you'll know what I'm referring to). However, so much of this book was terrific, beautifully written, funny, wry, sarcastic, and even poignant. In many of the stories (as is often the case), Sedaris spoke of his family and his relationship with his father, which continues to confound him, even as his father moves into his 90s.

"Honestly, though, does choice even come into it? Is it my fault that the good times fade to nothing while the bad ones burn forever bright? Memory aside, the negative just makes for a better story: the plane was delayed, an infection set in, outlaws arrived and reduced the schoolhouse to ashes. Happiness is harder to put into words. It's also harder to source, much more mysterious than anger or sorrow, which come to me promptly, whenever I summon them, and remain long after I've begged them to leave."

Calypso is a pretty terrific book, further testament to Sedaris' skill as a storyteller, a social commentator, and an observer of this crazy world we live in. His writing is great for some laughs (don't be shocked if you laugh out loud a time or two, so if you're self-conscious, don't read this in public), and this book is good for a few tears as well!

Book Review: "Carousel Court" by Joe McGinniss Jr.

If you're feeling the slightest bit down or depressed with the direction your life is currently heading, I'd suggest you skip this book. While certainly well-written, Joe McGinniss Jr.'s Carousel Court is a tremendously dark, almost brutal depiction of how the American Dream can slip out of your fingers, and its effect on a marriage and the psyches of both parties.

Phoebe and Nick Maguire are tired. They're tired of slaving away at their jobs, they're tired of their Boston neighborhood, and most of all, as parents of young Jackson, they're just physically tired. When Nick gets offered a production job in Southern California, they jump at the chance to restart their lives, and dream of a house near the beach.

As with many dreams, their reality falls short. They make the decision to buy a McMansion in a newer neighborhood, and they add many extras—granite countertops, a pool, even a rock-climbing wall—which will double their money once they sell it. The problem is, they've bought at the height of market, and it's not soon after that they find themselves stuck with this house, in a neighborhood replete with foreclosed house after foreclosed house, where their neighbors light their belongings on fire and patrol the chaos with guns.

Nick is desperate to be the provider for his family, which is no easy task amidst economic chaos, but he comes up with a scheme that may put them back on the track they've wanted to follow. Phoebe is surviving on an immense amount of drugs, and is becoming less and less motivated to continue her pharmaceutical sales job, a field in which she had stellar success back in Boston. She mostly uses her body and her sexuality to convince doctors they should prescribe the drugs she's selling, but even that power doesn't satisfy her. As she becomes increasingly self-destructive, she, too, is toying with ways to regain her financial independence, even if they put her at odds with Nick.

The threat of violence and unlawfulness is pervasive, as Nick's new scheme catches the attention of people with very little to lose. And as Phoebe's downward spiral continues, Nick realizes he may have to choose between his marriage and his son, and protect him before Phoebe's careless disregard causes them all harm.

This is really a depressing book, but I believe for those whose desperation grew during the financial crisis of the late 2000s, it's not that far from truth in some cases. You feel a sense of impending doom and danger, and it almost makes you want to read the book with your hands over your eyes because you don't know if you want to see what's going to happen. (For those who react viscerally to reading about animals being mistreated or harmed, you may want to skip this book.)

The dissolution of Phoebe and Nick's marriage is really brutal as well. I saw a blurb for this book compare it to Richard Yates' Revolutionary Road, and it definitely has a similar feel, particularly to the Leonardo DiCaprio/Kate Winslet film adaptation. After a while the whole thing got to be too much for me—too much of the same behaviors over and over again, too many days of prescription drug abuse and alcohol, too much unhappiness.

I'd never read anything by McGinniss Jr. before, but I was really impressed at how well he portrayed a toxic marriage in the midst of economic disaster. It was a little hard to take after a while, much like Revolutionary Road, but I was still impressed with his artistry.

Book Review: "Dream House" by Catherine Armsden

"She pondered how shared feelings could pull people closer, or, left unaddressed, like a misplaced or forgotten line in a drawing, could change the course of lives. There were no blueprints for a human life, no architect to pore over details that would ensure a sound and enduring structure."

In Catherine Armsden's beautiful, moving Dream House, Gina Gilbert is a San Francisco architect whose life is in the midst of significant turmoil. Her parents died suddenly in a freak car accident, and she and her older sister Cassie must pack up their childhood home in Maine so it can be sold by their parents' landlord. The house was the epicenter of some of Gina's most cherished moments, as well as many tumultuous ones, as she and Cassie navigated their parents' stormy relationship, their mother's emotional outbursts, and the tension that existed between their mother and her sister, who lived in the family's legacy, a house once owned by Sidney Banton, secretary to George Washington.

At the same time, Gina is growing increasingly anxious over the well-being of her own children, not realizing that her over-protectiveness and emotional instability mirrors her mother's when she was growing up. And it's been nearly two years since she and her husband bought property in Marin, but despite her ability to design houses and serve her clients' requests, she seems to have "architect's block" when it comes to designing her own house, a fact that is putting a strain on her marriage.

Gina returns to Maine to try and figure out where her head is, and spend some time with her childhood home. As she approaches the house like an architect would, studying the form and structure of each room, she also unearths memories, both good and bad, and reframes her parents' tumultuous relationship. She also tries to understand her mother and what made her act the way she did, and begins remembering the family issues she had repressed or forgotten, in the hopes she might be able to come to terms with her own issues.

Many books have been written about the reflection and soul-searching that comes after the death of one's parents, and the return to our childhood home. While some of the issues that Armsden explores in Dream House aren't new, her tremendous storytelling ability and use of language elevates this over other similar stories. But what sets this book apart is the way it juxtaposes emotion with architecture, and how both come together to tell the story of a family.

"Perhaps in this world there were no owners or renters, only borrowers choosing a bit of ground to call home during their short stay on earth. We must choose carefully, Gina thought; when we set our walls down to enclose something ordinary or extraordinary, we must be passionate about what we capture, inside and out."

This book really struck me in so many ways, and so many times I found myself in awe of Armsden's writing. I'll admit that Gina's character and her indecision irked me from time to time, but I understood where she was coming from, and just found the whole story tremendously moving. A great find.

Book Review: "After the Parade" by Lori Ostlund

I recently devoured Lori Ostlund's short story collection, The Bigness of the World, which I absolutely loved. (See my original review.) I so fell in love with her writing and her storytelling ability that I very quickly jumped into reading her debut novel, After the Parade. While I don't think I loved this book as much as her stories, I continue to be dazzled by Ostlund's talent and her ability to provoke so many different emotions with her writing.

Aaron Englund has been with his older partner Walter for 20 years, since Walter rescued him from a lonely existence in his small town of Morton, Minnesota. But while the two shared a strong bond, Aaron felt that Walter always controlled him, and never let him forget that he saved him. So one day, Aaron leaves their home in New Mexico and heads to San Francisco, where he hopes to start a new life and continue his career as an ESL teacher.

"Perhaps that was the nature of love: either a person was not in it enough toc are, or was in it too deeply to make anything but mistakes."

Settling into a small garage apartment in San Francisco, Aaron begins to realize that a new life isn't all it's cracked up to be. While he enjoys helping his students maneuver their way through the idiosyncrasies of the English language, he spends most of his time alone, knowing he did the right thing in his relationship with Walter yet still missing him, and feeling ever more alone and isolated, but scared and unwilling to try and make new friends.

Through flashbacks we get a better understanding of what has shaped Aaron into the man he has become. His angry, abusive father was killed in a freak accident when he was five, and his mother vacillated between smothering and distant. He never felt he was the same as his fellow classmates, and he often was the object of ridicule and/or bullying. Throughout his childhood and young adulthood he encountered a number of people whose differences were either physical and emotional, yet he felt at home with them. And then, while he was in high school, his mother left home in the middle of the night with the town's priest, and she never connected with Aaron again.

After the Parade is a moving story about feeling isolated, feeling different, and how our relationships and personalities are shaped by the things that occur in our lives. I felt for Aaron so much as I learned more about him, his likes and dislikes, and his inability to feel comfortable letting his guard down. But at times the emotional distance at which his mother kept Aaron, and Aaron keeps the world, translated into an emotional distance for me as well, so at times I was frustrated by Aaron's inability to act, to say what was on his mind, to do something that might bring a change in his life, although I understood why.

This is a story that unfolds slowly (very slowly at times), and while the flashbacks are tremendously valuable for insight into his character, I would have enjoyed spending more time with Aaron in adulthood than in childhood. But while this isn't a book I necessarily enjoyed, it was a book that moved me, and Ostlund's talent is on full display here. It's definitely a book that has me thinking.

Movie Review: "Boyhood"

I'll admit, I was a little late to the party on Richard Linklater's trilogy of Before Sunrise, Before Sunset, and Before Midnight, but when I finally saw all three I couldn't believe I had missed them all these years. So needless to say, I didn't want to let another Linklater movie pass me by. And after seeing Boyhood, I can honestly say I am so glad I saw it.

Boyhood is the story about a young boy named Mason (Ellar Coltrane) growing up in Texas. When the movie begins in 2002 he's a mischievous, easily distracted six-year-old, mostly behaving the way typical six-year-olds do: taking every risk imaginable, simultaneously being terrorized by and terrorizing his older sister (Lorelai Linklater), ogling the lingerie section of a store catalogue with a friend.

Mason is also a sensitive dreamer, one who does all of his homework but doesn't turn it in because the teacher doesn't explicitly ask for it. He and his sister live with their mother (Patricia Arquette), who is tired of struggling to make ends meet for her family and wants to go back to school so she can make something of her life. When they move to Houston, the kids get a visit from their less-than-present father (Ethan Hawke), a man-child who desperately wants to be a part of his children's lives but he isn't so sure he's ready for the responsibility.

The movie follows Mason as he grows up, but in case you weren't aware, Linklater did something absolutely fascinating in making this film: instead of using other actors to play Mason and his sister as they grew, Linklater filmed this over the course of 12 years, gathering his actors together once a year or so to mark progress and see where the year has taken the characters. It's an absolutely mesmerizing tactic that gets you more invested in the characters and the story than perhaps any other movie, because you're actually watching them grow and change, essentially in front of your eyes.

Although I watched Boyhood with a bit of trepidation, waiting for the moment that everything would fall apart for the characters (and there are a few times I felt sure it would), this is a movie that for the most part doesn't lay on the drama but instead revels in the conversations of Mason's life—with his father talking about the future of the Star Wars franchise while on a camping trip; with one of his high school teachers, desperate to light a fire under him; with a girlfriend, espousing his philosophies of life; and with his mother as he prepares to leave for college. The dialogue and the situations ring true, and the fact that we've seen these actors grow makes them all the more real.

With a running time of two hours and forty-two minutes, you're probably wondering if a movie that's a snapshot of a "real" life could hold your attention. It absolutely does, mainly because the performances are so riveting. Coltrane is truly a find; I can only wonder if Richard Linklater truly realized early on just what an old soul Coltrane was as a child, and how that quality would bring such weight to his performance as a teenager. Linklater's daughter Lorelai transforms into so much more than the bratty, overly dramatic older sister, and I only wished for the opportunity to see more of her. Arquette has a meatier role than Hawke, but both bring toughness and vulnerability to their performances as they navigate life's ups and downs.

I can't recommend this movie enough—although I'll pay it forward, much as my friends did, and warn you to hit the restroom before the movie begins. Much like an excellent short story or novel, I'm left wondering what happened to Mason and his family once the camera stopped rolling. And that, for me, is the mark of excellence—to care enough about the characters you can't stop thinking about them.

Movie Review: "Short Term 12"

Earlier in the year, a colleague asked me what was the best movie I had seen thus far, and I struggled to find an answer beyond Star Trek: Into Darkness and the zombie rom-com Warm Bodies (which I really did enjoy, BTW). Now, nine months into 2013, I can definitely say I've seen some fantastic, memorable, and affecting movies—Fruitvale Station, The Spectacular Now, The Way Way Back, Mud, Much Ado about Nothing, and now, Short Term 12, which was truly terrific.

Short Term 12 is the name of a foster care facility that focuses on teenagers with emotional issues. It's supposed to be a short-term solution until the county figures out a more permanent solution for these kids, but some wind up staying there for more than a year. The home is run by Grace (Brie Larson, of United States of Tara and The Spectacular Now) and her goofy-but-lovable boyfriend Mason (Tony Award-winner John Gallagher Jr.), who are fiercely protective of the kids but are not willing to cut them any slack.

Grace and Mason's secret-but-not-really relationship is tested over a period of days by Grace's unexpected pregnancy, the pressure of unrevealed secrets, and the arrival in the home of Jayden (Last Man Standing's Kaitlyn Dever), a troubled teenager who tries to cover up her problems with sullen attitude. Jayden ignites a fire into Grace, who recognizes in the girl more similarities than she'll care to admit. Add to this issues with a few of the home's other residents, and you've got a brewing emotional disaster sure to challenge even the strongest people.

Short Term 12, written and directed by Destin Cretton, is a quiet powerhouse of a film that keeps surprising you every time you expect it to take the usual turns. You learn surprising details about the characters, which give you more insight into their actions. There are scenes of tremendous emotional poignancy—perhaps none more gut-punching than a rap song performed by moody Marcus (Keith Stanfield), who is about to be released from the home on his 18th birthday.

While the movie certainly triggers your emotions, at no point is any of the plot overly manipulative or contrived to provoke a particular reaction. Each scene contributes to the overall power of this movie. I was so worried that the film would take a wrong step into familiar, clichéd territory time and time again, and time and time again Cretton's nuanced script shifted, but never misled. Beyond the script, this is a movie that soars because of its performances. Larson, Gallagher, Dever, and Stanfield, as well as those in the smaller, supporting roles, are all spot-on and so mesmerizing.

One of the reasons I love living in the Washington area is the number of movie theaters that show "smaller" and/or independent movies instead of just the same films (in IMAX, 3D, etc.) on 10 different screens. I hope people get the opportunity to see Short Term 12 because it is a film that absolutely deserves an audience. If it comes to your area, see it. I hope it moves and amazes you like it did me.

A love song for my home state...

After losing power for several days during the derecho this summer, we were prepared for much worse as Hurricane Sandy prepared to arrive. The media had warned us to ready for the possibility of 7-10 days without power and the potential of significant damage, so with a house full of non-perishable items, two cases of bottled water, and a store of batteries, we waited, nervously eyeing the large trees already drooping into our backyard from the adjacent lot.

When we awoke Tuesday morning, we were pleased to see we hadn't lost power or sustained any damage save a few tiles from a neighbor's roof blowing into the backyard. But I honestly wasn't prepared for the extent of the damage Sandy left in my home state of New Jersey, not to mention the destruction in New York City, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and elsewhere.

Like so many, my family and friends in New Jersey and New York were (and are still) without power. Some had to evacuate their homes or wait for the Coast Guard to rescue them. Some sustained damage to their homes and cars. But fortunately, all are safe and accounted for. It is upsetting to see so many you care about not have control over their situations and at the mercy of Mother Nature and the cleanup and utility companies, especially when you really live too far away to provide shelter or whatever assistance you can. But hopefully the good vibes and love we're constantly sending will do some good.

Equally as upsetting are the pictures of the destruction Sandy left in her wake. Beaches and places I used to visit when I was younger, like Point Pleasant, the Boardwalk at Seaside Heights (where we went the day after my high school junior prom and a friend's senior prom), even parts of the Atlantic City Boardwalk have sustained significant damage or been washed away.

But as they've done before, the people of New Jersey, New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania will not only endure, but they'll come back stronger than ever. And as far as the Jersey shore is concerned, as our favorite native son sings in Jersey Girl, a song I slow danced to at nearly every Sweet 16 party I went to growing up:

'Cause down the shore everything's all right
You and your baby on a Saturday night

You can take the boy out of Jersey but you can never take all of Jersey out of the boy. Wishing all of my family and friends strength, warmth, sanity, patience, and lots and lots of love...